Summary
- It Takes Two was surprisingly reserved when it came to calling out other video games.
- Split Fiction goes in the opposite direction by referencing pretty much every game under the sun.
- Assassin’s Creed, Dead Space, Sonic, SSX, and Metal Gear Solid, are just the tip of the iceberg for everything that can be found.
Split Fiction is absolutely stuffed with references to other video games, including Assassin’s Creed, Dark Souls, A Way Out, Sonic, and even SSX. It’d be easier to list the games it doesn’t reference.
Despite how many ideas and gameplay mechanics It Takes Two threw at players every couple of minutes, it surprisingly didn’t feature that many easter eggs referencing games. There were a few of course, such as the Street Fighter-esque battle against a squirrel on the roof of a plane, but it was surprisingly reserved when it came to easter eggs.
The same cannot be said of Hazelight Studios’ new game, Split Fiction. Despite the plot focusing on stories told within science fiction and fantasy worlds, Split Fiction throws subtlety out of the window and shows its deep love for video games by referencing them at pretty much every turn.
Split Fiction Sure Loves A Video Game Reference
The list of references within Split Fiction is very long, but I’ll pick out a few highlights that should get my point across. One of the best in the game takes place in one of Final Dawn’s Side Stories called the Moon Market. If you go off the beaten path in the level, you’ll find one of the bonfires from Dark Souls, which even pops up a “Moonfire Lit” message when you rest at it.
Moving onto something a bit less hardcore, the opening prologue of Split Fiction is hiding a very obvious Assassin’s Creed reference. When you get to the top of a tower, Mio and Zoe can jump off of it and into a bale of hay that’s waiting at the bottom. As you do so, a chicken noise will mimic Assassin’s Creed’s eagle and Zoe will reference it being a “leap of faith”.
We’re only scraping the surface of every wink to games that Split Fiction is hiding, but one of my favourites can be found in the Space Walk side story. As Zoe and Mio suit up into their space suits, the machine they step into is incredibly reminiscent of Dead Space, a game that at least Hazelight is interested in even if EA has left it behind.
There are so many other easter eggs waiting to be found in Split Fiction, including an SSX-style snowboarding sequence that Mio even admits is based on a video game she played growing up and a cardboard box that Solid Snake would find very comfortable. Keep your eyes open when playing, and you’re sure to find a callback to something you know.
